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“Hollow Words, Shallow Politics“, an article by Ewa Thompson published by Humanum, brings an interesting view on today’s politics, concentrating on its language, not the political divisions.
By the end of Sophocles’ “Antigone” both the daughters and sons of Oedipus by Jocasta are dead, their tragedy presented starkly as a grim reminder that human beings are but specks of dust in the hands of the gods and that the gods may impose curses from which there is no escape. But the “Antigone” is also a play about politics. King Creon’s motivation is political. He does not so much care about the gods as he wants his country to remain stable under his rule. This means that his enemies must be punished and discredited, even if that enemy should prove to be his own nephew.
Today, we no longer believe in the curses of the gods, but presumably many of us still believe in God, and therefore in the stability of concepts such as right and wrong. We believe that every area of our lives and human activity is open to divine scrutiny, and that this therefore includes our politics. However, if there is one segment of human activity from which the very mention of God — except perhaps in the most formulaic way — has been excised, it is politics. (…)